Egregious Applications

Anyone who has served on a search committee has seen laughable application errors: typos, cover letters addressed to the wrong institution, and so forth.

Ah, but then there are the nonerrors, the egregious acts of fraud or deception that just take one’s breath away. I’ve seen bogus degrees, highly suspicious letters of reference, and even misleading scholarship citations. Friends tell me they’ve seen plagiarized teaching philosophies and out-and-out lies about scholarship.

What are the worst application lies you’ve witnessed? Do you think that most deception is discovered?